(No, not a new element discovered. Just wanted to use that title.) What can I say? Black and white animals can be ridiculously cute. Especially if they’re baby ones. Spotted* in the LA Times was an article about Tai Shan (pictured in my lunchbox above), the four and a half month old Giant Panda cub (photo is from earlier) which gave its first official press conference to the national media yesterday in Washington DC.

The article’s nice and all, but the good stuff is the live pandacam (!) at the Zoo’s website on the Pandas where you can watch the mother and her cub hanging out! See also the collection of ridiculously cute baby Panda photos here, (this is where I got the photo from) and other photo galleries. (Oh, yes, and lots of valuable scientific information, and information on how to support the species, here.)

Urbano…yes…did a post on it as you were typing, probably….. are you watching? how is it? telll us on that thread….

cheers,

-cvj

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean

Tai Shan’s Internet nickname is Butterstick, which I think is much cuter.

JoAnne

The night before I was born, my Mother paced the house hugging her Panda. Such prenatal influence destined me to a lifetime of Panda passion. I recently discovered that some of my colleagues share this passion (perhaps their Mothers had Pandas too) and last summer we declared the SLAC theory group a Panda-friendly workplace. I’m sure we’ve started a new trend.

http://pantheon.yale.edu/~eal48 Eugene

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

(breaths)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

In college I was told that, as a guy, the ability to be Awwww-ed by a cute fluffy animal is a powerful help in attracting members of the fairer sex. They say it has something to do with demonstrating a softer side of yourself, and thus making you more likely to stay in the nest. I don’t know if that is true or not, but….

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/clifford/ Clifford

I defy anyone to not Awwwww (or equivalent) at that picture….. Regardless of their motivation….and whether they be he-man, man, girly-man, (whatever those really mean) or the female analogs.

cheers,

-cvj

Alex R

Apparently some people will go to great lengths to get to see this panda in person… Pandamonium, indeed!

Jeff

so that would be, respectively, a she-woman, woman or begin{governator} manly-girl end{governator}??

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/clifford/ Clifford

don’t you mean boy-ey-woman?

-cvj

Jeff

Possibly. It doesn’t have the same ring to it though. At least not in MY Arnie voice…

erc

Awwwwwwww…. Very, very cute….

How did he get the name Butterstick though?

http://vulpes82.blogspot.com Frank

Awwwwwwwww! (And I’m a gay man, so I’m not saying that to get in good with the ladies!)

I know Arun was joking, but I have often wondered what evolutionary basis there is for “cuteness.” I mean, it’s obviously advantageous for us to find our own young adorable, but why do we find things like lion or bear cubs (or adults, even) so cute? They could eat us!

erc: “Butterstick” came from the fact that he was the size of a stick of butter at birth.